Estimate of the Genome Size of Various Microorganisms

Abstract

Bacterial genome sizes, determined by deoxyribonucleic acid reassociation kinetics, vary over a 10-fold range. The smallest studied, Chlamydia trachomatis, had a genome of 6 x 10(5) nucleotide pairs compared to 4.5 x 10(6) for Escherichia coli.